Forced disappearance in Pakistan

Forced disappearance in Pakistan originated during the military dictator General Pervez Musharraf (1999 to 2008). The practice continued during subsequent governments. The term missing persons is sometimes used as a euphemism. According to Amina Masood Janjua, a human rights activist and chairperson of Defence of Human Rights Pakistan; a not for profit organization working against enforced disappearance there are more than 70,000 reported cases of enforced disappearance in Pakistan. There are no formal allegations or charges against the persons thus forcefully disappeared.

From 1999 to 2008

After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, forced disappearance in Pakistan allegedly began during the rule of military dictator General Pervez Musharraf (1999 to 2008).[1] Pakistan went under immense terrorist activities. A large number of people became the victim of suicidal attacks. During Musharraf's tenure, during 'War on Terror', many people were suspected as terrorists and then taken away by Govt agencies.[2][3][4] Many of them were then handed over to the United States authorities to be imprisoned in the Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray.[4] After Musharaf resigned in August 2008, he was charged with various human rights violations.[2] According to Amina Masood Janjua, a human right's activist and chairperson of Defence of Human Rights Pakistan, a Nonprofit organization working against enforced disappearance there are more than 5000 reported cases of enforced disappearance in Pakistan. However, as per judiciary, this figures is inflated: there are around 96 people which are not traceable.[5] There are no formal allegations or charges against the persons thus forcefully disappeared.

From 2009 to present

According to Dawn newspaper report, in the first seven months of 2016, there were 510 reports of forced disappearance in Pakistan.[6] In 2011, a Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances was formed to investigate the cases of forced disappearances. According to Amnesty International, the commission has so far received 3,000 cases of such disappearances.[7]

  • Zeenat Shahzadi: Zeenat Shahzadi, a 24-year-old female journalist who was investigating a disappearance case, was allegedly abducted by some armed personnel on 19 August 2015 and went missing.[7] As of 2017, she remained missing. Her disappearance caused her younger brother to commit suicide.[7]
  • Five online activists: In early January 2017, five social media activists – Salman Haider, Ahmad Waqass Goraya, Aasim Saeed, and Ahmad Raza Naseer – went missing from different parts of Pakistan.[8][9][10][11] Salman Haider was also a poet and academic.[9] Involvement of government agencies were suspected in those disappearances.[9][10] Later, one news report claimed that two of the five — Aasim Saeed and Salman Haider — were found.[11]

People who have at any point gone missing

Some have reported to have been handed over to the CIA and/or flown to Bagram, Afghanistan and later shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. Reports of forced abductions by the Pakistani state first began arising in 2001, in the aftermath of the United States invasion of Afghanistan and the commencement of the US-led War on Terror.[12] Many of the missing persons are activists associated with the secular Baloch nationalist and Sindhi nationalist movements.[12]

Balochistan

According to the International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, 18,000 Baloch have gone missing by January 2014. Of these, 2,000 were killed between 2001 and 2013.[13] According to a Voice for Missing Baloch Persons, 463 people were forcibly disappeared in Balochistan, out of whom 157 were tortured to death, in 2015.[14] Some of the prominent activists that had gone missing:

The victims families give horrifying descriptions of tortured suffered by the abductees. Some bodies were found without their heart, lungs and intestines. Some had their eyeballs removed. In one case, the body was reportedly given to medical students for training. The mother of one of the abducted activists said, "they do this to scare us." However, "these bodies have made the mothers stronger. They sing songs of revolution when they see the dead now."[13]

Criticism

The cases of forced disappearances were criticized by human rights organizations and the media.[1] They have urged the government of Pakistan to probe these incidents.[1][10] In 2011, a Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances was formed, but there was little progress in the investigation.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 ""We Can Torture, Kill, or Keep You for Years"". Human Rights Watch. 28 July 2011.
  2. 1 2 Shayne R. Burnham (28 September 2008). "Musharraf Faces Charges of Human Rights Violations". Impunity Watch.
  3. ↑ "Pakistan". Freedom House. 2007.
  4. 1 2 Irene Khan (30 August 2008). "Where are the disappeared?". Dawn.
  5. ↑ "Govt figures on missing persons inflated: panel - The Express Tribune". tribune.com.pk. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  6. 1 2 I. A. Rehman (25 August 2016). "Disappearances still a major issue". Dawn.
  7. 1 2 3 "Pakistan: Where Is Zeenat Shahzadi?". Amnesty International. 30 August 2016.
  8. ↑ Tareq Haddad (11 January 2017). "State crackdown on dissent feared as four secularist activists 'disappear' in Pakistan". International Business Times. IBTimes Co., Ltd.
  9. 1 2 3 "Fears of online crackdown loom large after 'abduction' of 4 bloggers". Pakistan Today. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 Qasim Nauman (10 January 2017). "Rights Groups Ask Pakistan to Probe Disappearance of Activists". The Wall Street Journal.
  11. 1 2 "Second missing Pakistani blogger found, leaves country, says family". Al Arabia. 29 January 2017.
  12. 1 2 Denying the Undeniable: Enforced Disappearances in Pakistan. Amnesty International Publications. 2008.
  13. 1 2 Kiran Nazish, Balochistan's Missing Persons, The Diplomat, 6 January 2014.
  14. ↑ "157 killed, 463 missing persons in Balochistan last year: VBMP". The Nation (Pakistan). 2 January 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2017.

Further reading

  • Fisk, Robert (18 March 2010). "Into the terrifying world of Pakistan's 'disappeared'". The Independent. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • Gall, Carlotta (19 December 2007). "Picture of Secret Detentions Emerges in Pakistan". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • "The unending ordeal of missing persons' families". Dawn. 25 July 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • Plett, Barbara (13 December 2006). "Painful search for Pakistan's disappeared". BBC News Online. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • Montero, David (6 September 2007). "Pakistan: Disappeared". PBS Frontline. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • Walsh, Declan (16 March 2007). "Without a trace". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • "Pakistan: Thousands of persons remain missing amid government inaction". Asian Legal Resource Centre. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • Garcia, J. Malcolm (October 2010). "The Missing". Guernica Magazine. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • Masood, Salman (14 January 2007). "Relatives and rights group search for Pakistan's missing". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • "Pakistan families of missing pin hopes on Chaudhry". Agence France-Presse. 23 March 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • "Who took the 'disappeared' people?". Daily Times (Pakistan). 29 March 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • "Musharraf's stance on disappearances is wrong: HRCP". Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  • Khan, Ilyas (22 January 2007). "Pressure over Pakistan's missing". BBC news Online. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
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